Signs, and more particularly point-of-purchase sign or display systems can, when properly designed, be tremendously effective marketing tools. As such, these point-of-purchase sign or display systems have become widely popular in all manner of retail trades.
There are an extremely large number of different types of point-of-purchase displays and signs. These displays vary from active, e.g. rotating, displays used to display, for example, eyewear, to the more traditional, passive or stationary signs such as overhead signs.
Consumers will also recognize the fast-paced growth of the home improvement center retail market, as well as the increasing number of "warehouse club"--types of establishments. Many of these establishments use conventional warehouse-type stocking arrangements. That is, they use shelving systems that permit loading of pallets and palletized items onto the stocking shelves.
Although these pallet-type stocking arrangements permit the storage of large items and a large amount of items on each of the shelves, in many instances, they do not lend themselves to the mounting of point-of-purchase displays or signs onto these shelving systems.
Typically, these point-of-purchase displays are permanently or semi-permanently affixed to the shelves themselves, are hung in aisles between shelving systems or racks, or are hung above the shelving systems and angled downwardly so that consumers may view the signs as they pass between the shelving racks. While many of these signs work quite well insofar as directing consumers' attention to particular products, they do not permit ready access to the shelves in order to, for example, restock the shelves. This, of course, is particularly true of those signs that are permanently or semi-permanently affixed to the shelves.
One known type of mounting system has a pivoting mount that includes a bracket that is permanently affixed to a vertical surface of the shelf system, and an upwardly extending arm connected to the bracket. A leg extends horizontally outwardly from the arm and includes a pivoting head portion attached to an end of the leg. A sign is mounted to the pivoting head portion so that the sign and head can be pivoted relative to the extension arm and leg.
The mounting system includes various pieces of hardware that are used to lock the sign and pivoting head into a desired position. Although such a sign support or mounting system may function well, it has a number of drawbacks. First, there is a large quantity of small hardware items that are required to mount the sign in a given position. Such small hardware items are easily lost or misplaced while the sign is pivoted to reposition the sign or to restock the shelves.
Another drawback is that the sign cannot be fully pivoted out of the way in order to restock a shelf. That is, when the sign is pivoted out of the way, it is typically pivoted and positioned horizontally, and can project outwardly, into for example an aisle. This "resting" position of the sign can create a personnel hazard, as well as place the sign in a position in which it can be damaged by passing equipment such as a forklift.
Other types of sign mounting systems are known in the art. However, such systems suffer from many of the same drawbacks as the aforementioned pivoting display mount. That is, small hardware items are necessary to position the sign in a particular, desired position, and/or the sign may not be fully pivotal out of the way of consumers, personnel working nearby or equipment that may be used in proximity to the pivoted sign.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a point-of-purchase display or sign mounting system that is used to position a sign in a particular, desired orientation and position, and that is effective for point-of-purchase marketing. Desirably, such a system permits fully rotating or pivoting the sign out of the way, from a display position to a storage position, to restock a shelf over which the sign is located. Such a mounting system requires minimal hardware to mount the sign to an associated shelving system, and further requires minimal hardware to move or pivot the sign from a display position to a storage position.